The Loui Eriksson Award: Who Is the Dallas Stars' Most Underrated Player?

Welcome to a project the success of which will invalidate the conclusion

In case you missed it, former Dallas Star Loui Eriksson officially retired from the NHL on Monday. Here are a couple of excerpts from his retirement announcement:

"After a year and a half of reflection, it's time to officially retire,” said Eriksson. “Hockey has given me more than I could have ever imagined. I've had the highest of highs and lowest of lows, but at the end of the day, I'm so thankful for the memories that I'm bringing as I walk away from the game of hockey."

“A special thank you to the Dallas Stars organization for helping me as a young man transition into the life of an athlete in the states, for believing in me and giving me a chance to play in the NHL and making my dreams come true," Eriksson said. "The city of Dallas and the friends I crossed paths with through the years will forever have a special place in my heart."

Eriksson was a really fun player to watch. Not because he was flashy—although he could score goals like nobody’s business when it came down to it—but because he was relentless. The Swedish left wing could play on the penalty kill and the power play, and he could (and did) play with dynamic-but-different players like Mike Modano, Brad Richards, Mike Ribeiro, Brenden Morrow, and even Jaromir Jagr.

There was a time when Eriksson had the makings of a Jere Lehtinen without the right-hand shot or the being-from-Finland-ness. In his seven seasons in Dallas, Eriksson played 501 games, piling up 150 goals¹ and 357 points, including seven shorthanded goals. He spent that time generally looking like one of the very few bright spots in Dallas as they went into the dark days of bankruptcy and five straight years without a playoff appearance.

Drafted with a second-round pick acquired from Columbus in exchange for Grant Marshall, Eriksson is probably best remembered in Dallas for two things: For being part of the Tyler Seguin trade in 2013, and for always being referred to as “underrated.”

And when I say consistently, I mean that he was voted the “most underrated player in the NHL” by players in 2011. Of course, the Stars team itself was voted the second-most underrated that same season by those same players, and that team would finish the 2010-11 campaign in a fashion befitting Marc Crawford’s compsure during his Stars’ tenure, which is to say they lost the plot at the last minute.

Most longtime fans remember the whole “practicing the shootout when they needed a regulation or overtime win to make the playoffs” thing before losing a “win and you’re in” game 82, but rather than rehashing that failure, I’d rather take you back to an enraged Marc Crawford a few months before that:

Now, am I saying that Crawford had the team practicing penalty shots on April 10, 2011 because he was still angry about not getting the penalty shot call four months earlier? No, I am not saying that, because that would be ridiculous. I am thinking it, though, and always have.

But back to Eriksson the Underrated, which would be his name if he were a Viking. His was a career unfortunately derailed by concussions, with a horrible hit to the head by future All-Star John Scott and a massive check from Brooks Orpik both coming in the span of two months after his move to Boston.

Eriksson would have a bounce-back year in his walk season in Boston and score 30 goals, then sign a huge six-year deal with Vancouver in the notorious 2016 free agency. And well, Eriksson’s debut in Vancouver was almost as painful as his last stop, only in a different way.

Anyway, Eriksson played out his contract in Vancouver, but he wasn’t the same player as he had been earlier in his career, and he finished his NHL time in Arizona after the Canucks and Coyotes swapped him for Oliver Ekman-Larsson, whom they would buy out in 2023, and whom they will be paying until 2028.

It wasn’t the end Eriksson deserved in his career, but anyone who plays 1050 NHL games has a lot to be grateful for.

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Anyway, hooray for Loui Eriksson, and so forth. But we’re not here today just to Remember A Guy; we’re here to decide who deserves Eriksson’s “Most Underrated” label, and everything that goes along with it. And it’s probably more complicated than you think.

The whole thing about Eriksson is that he was underrated for so long that he wound up being overrated, and that’s tough to do. Usually players are overrated well before they sign their big UFA deals, not after. Hence the overpay.

But what we’re trying to do today is figure out what current Stars player fits that bill.

Some criteria: The player needs to be good enough right now that he could at least possibly flip from “underrated” to “overrated” once he signs his next big contract. If Mavrik Bourque scores 50 goals next year, that doesn’t mean he’s been underrated this year, when he’s scored just six so far. We aren’t prophets, probably.

It also means he can’t be so well-known that he’s already very accurately rated, which is to say Roope Hintz is not the answer for this question, though he would have been a good pick a couple of years ago. Hintz is a 60- or 70-point center who was sixth in Selke Trophy voting last year, so I think he’s in the Very Accurately Rated category.

The player probably won’t have a big personality, which means it could well be a European player for whom English isn’t his first language. And if we’re talking about the NHL at large here, being “underrated” is a lot easier to do in a nontraditional market like Dallas, where people aren’t watching all of the games as often as they are Boston, Toronto, New York, or Montreal.

Miro Heiskanen was the answer a couple of years before Hintz was, I think. But we’re past that now, with Heiskanen getting some serious Norris Trophy love the last couple of years. And unfortuantely, after watching the Stars’ defense in the last five games, everyone is actutely aware of just how important Heiskanen is to the Stars.

Esa Lindell is an interesting choice, though his recent extension with Dallas shows that the Stars sure aren’t underrating him. I love Lindell’s game, and I think he’s turned into everything the Stars could have hoped for. He might be underrated in the NHL at large, but given his lack of scoring, I don’t think it’s by much. He plays a lot of minutes, and he does so quite well. But he’s also playing fewer of them than he did before Peter DeBoer took over, so there’s an argument to be made that Lindell was overrated a few years ago, when he was playing 23 - 24 minutes a night. He seems to be much more effective in the 19 - 21 range. Lindell is Accurately Rated.

As for the other defensemen, I think you can say Thomas Harley is definitely underrated around the league, though he’s got a bit higher profile than some other players his age. And his 47-point season last year certainly turned heads, Harley probably is underrated, but not quietly so, and not for long. And he’s definitely not in danger of becoming overrated any time soon.

Jason Robertson has seen his ups and downs, and I still think his defense doesn’t get nearly enough love. In fact, since around Game 25 or so, Robertson has really started looking like his dominant self. But then, he’s got some ground to make up after his slow start to the year, so I think it’s fair of everyone to be patient. Robertson probably was underrated coming into the year, but his start was genuinely rough. No dice.

Depth players like Ilya Lyubushkin, Sam Steel, and Evgenii Dadonov are better than a lot of fans might realize, but I don’t think they’re wildly underrated as much as underappreciated, which is a distinction I don’t have to explain because you’re not my mom, so there.

Jamie Benn is Jamie Benn. He wins the Most Jamie Benn category for the 15th time (Jordie edged him out to win it once), but not Most Underrated.

Mason Marchment and Matt Duchene have been among the Stars’ best players at times this year, but it’s fair to wait for more long-term consistency before giving them awards. And besides, everyone knows who they are, for a lot of reasons. They were underrated early this season when they were on the best line in the NHL with Seguin, but on the whole, I think folks know who they are.

Oskar Bäck is doing his best Radek Faksa impression in terms of turning the ice into a no-goals-allowed zone while he’s out there, and Colin Blackwell is a penalty-killing wizard. Fine, but not drastically underrated.

Rookies like Logan Stankoven and Mavrik Bourque have seen mildly reversed fortunes this year from last season, but neither is way better than the average person knows. If anything, they’re both a touch behind schedule, though with hopeful signs to be found. Not underrated.

Lian Bichsel is only 16 games into his NHL career and currently back in Cedar Park during the break. But I don’t think he’s at risk of being underrated any time soon, given the potential there.

As for the goalies, Jake Oettinger is living up to his contract as one of the best goalies in the league, while Casey DeSmith has had to deal with a lot of the sloppier defensive games Dallas has gotten, and he’s dealt with them quite handily.

You’ve probably guessed where I’m going by now, but I think there’s really only one answer to the “most underrated” question on the Stars right now. It’s a player who is going to sign their next contract this summer, and a player who, like Eriksson, can play in all situations, and has done so with excellence.

Through 55 games, Wyatt Johnston is the winner of the Loui Eriksson Award for being The Most Underrated Player. What’s that, you say? It’s weird to give out awards 55 games into the season? Well, maybe the NHL should have thought of that before pausing the season to run their little tournament. If they can act like it’s the end of the year, then so can I. The board all voted, and Johnston won unanimously with one vote. We do not reveal our ballots, but I will tell you that I expected Johnston to win even before votes were cast.

Johnston finished fifth in Calder Trophy voting back in 2023, which is a good sign that what he did at 18 years old wasn’t on everyone’s radar. He led the Stars in goals last season before he could even have a drink at Casino Night, then he went into the playoffs and led the team in scoring again while playing nearly 21 minutes a night as a 20-year-old forward in three extremely tough playoff series. And again, somehow, a lot of people barely noticed.

Johnston then started off this season not quite at 100% health, only to now be playing over a minute more per night than any other forward. He’s crept back to within just eight points of Matt Duchene for the team-lead in scoring, and he’s made every line he’s played on a very good one.

If Johnston ends up centering his own line down the stretch and into the playoffs, it will be a very good one, because he’ll be on it. And if he joins Hintz and Robertson on the top line, it will be a great one, because they’re all great.

Johnston will get a great big new contract this offseason—it’s one of the reasons Dallas is hesitant to take on a bunch of salary beyond this year—and perhaps that bigger ticket will lead to a higher profile around the league, and the risk of Johnston flipping into the other category. But so far in his career, he’s risen to every challenge that he’s faced. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Johnston managed to continue flying a bit under the radar even after he’s making his well-earned millions, because he’s just that kind of player. Steady to the extent that his excellence lulls you into expecting it. Quiet, until he blows you away. He makes things look easy that just aren’t, for normal people, but he does it so well that a lot of folks may not have noticed quite yet.

There is only one Loui Eriksson Trophy to be won, and the Stars’ youngest forward has easily taken it home. And this year, he can finally celebrate with champagne. (But he probably won’t bother to get any, unless Joe Pavelski drops it off.)

1. Eriksson scored 150 goals with Dallas, and just 103 goals in the remainder of his NHL career, so I think it’s safe to say Dallas did, indeed, win the Tyler Seguin trade.